Chapter 157. You Actually Dared to Play Me for a Fool?
Over here, Xu Yuan received a wooden token.
To prevent anyone from deliberately hanging back and watching from the sidelines, the family had randomly distributed these tokens to everyone, determining the order in which they would go onstage.
Anyone with even a little sense knew that this martial arts tournament was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was the only chance in their lives to step onto the path toward Grandmasterhood.
Because of that, every martial artist who stepped onto the stage fought with everything they had, and the clashes were exceptionally fierce.
The losers left with ashen faces, hanging their heads in dejection.
And even those who won, though outwardly high-spirited, did not dare relax in the slightest.
There were more than twenty participants in total, most of them eight-meridian martial artists. Only those two Extraordinary Meridians martial artists were mixed among them like hidden explosives, full of unstable danger. Whoever drew one of them was simply unlucky.
At that moment, a burst of commotion suddenly broke out.
Xu Yuan turned to look and found that someone had drawn one of the Extraordinary Meridians martial artists.
That man had only just won a match and had not even had time to breathe easy before he was directly "blown up" by the draw. His expression immediately became wonderfully complicated.
Everyone else, meanwhile, felt a certain gloating delight. At the very least, someone had already drawn one of the landmines.
So they all joked that he might as well just step down on his own.
But the man refused to give up. After hastily exchanging a few moves, he was knocked off the ring, drawing a chorus of jeers from the people around him.
"Lord Xu, I have heard of you for a long time!"
At that moment, Kong Wei came over with a smile plastered all over his face. "Today truly is a gathering of experts. I am Kong Wei. Since we have met, it must be fate. How about making a friend?"
Xu Yuan glanced at him and smiled. "You are too courteous."
After a few perfunctory pleasantries, Kong Wei immediately got to the point.
"I wonder which number Brother Xu has drawn? Tell me, and if the two of us meet, we can show each other a little mercy, hahaha."
He laughed with false warmth, leaning forward slightly, looking extremely eager to know the answer.
Seeing that, Xu Yuan frowned. Even if the man wanted to know his number, he was being far too enthusiastic.
And why had he specifically come to ask him?
Did he really think Xu Yuan was the easiest target to bully?
Suspicion arose in Xu Yuan’s heart, so he casually made up a number, wanting to see what medicine the man was really selling in his gourd. "I am D-3."
"D-3?"
Kong Wei’s eyes lit up. He instantly suppressed the wild joy in his heart, threw out a few perfunctory words, and quickly left.
All he needed was a little maneuvering to be matched against Xu Yuan, so he hurried off to report to Shangyang Qingzhen, thumping his chest as he guaranteed that he would thoroughly humiliate Xu Yuan on the ring.
Meanwhile, Xu Yuan looked toward Xiao Han in the distance. Seeing the strange look on his face, he asked, "Do you know what his background is?"
Xiao Han did not reveal too much. He only gave a brief hint. "I heard he used to run a martial arts hall. Later... he joined the Fengyun Escort Agency."
Xu Yuan’s heart stirred.
The Fengyun Escort Agency was one of the largest escort agencies in the Prefecture City.
More importantly, that escort agency was considered part of the Third Young Master’s maternal family’s business.
At that thought, Xu Yuan immediately understood the whole chain of events.
Interesting. It seemed that this one was quite dissatisfied with him.
Very soon, the steward called out loudly, "D-3, to the stage!"
Kong Wei leaped onto the ring impatiently, then shouted sharply in Xu Yuan’s direction, "What are you dawdling for? Get your ass up here already! Or are you scared?"
"They have certainly praised your reputation loudly enough, but who knows whether you are the real thing or just a worthless piece of trash that only knows how to run its mouth!"
He deliberately bit down hard on the words "worthless trash," drawing the attention of the surrounding spectators. He wanted to viciously humiliate Xu Yuan and vent his master’s anger for him.
Xu Yuan looked at Kong Wei as though he were an idiot and did not move an inch.
Kong Wei sneered. "What? Scared stupid? Hurry up and come die!"
However, the one who stepped onto the ring was not Xu Yuan.
A burly man with a broad frame and a face as cold and hard as iron slowly mounted the stage. The chill emanating from his body seemed enough to make the air congeal.
He looked to be a little over forty. His features were resolute, and a fierce killing aura born of many battles hung between his brows.
Most striking of all were the nine horizontal stripes on his shoulder. He was unmistakably an Extraordinary Meridians martial artist!
The entire venue fell silent in an instant.
The sneer on Kong Wei’s face froze completely.
"Th-this gentleman is... an Extraordinary Meridians martial artist?"
"Has Kong Wei gone mad? He actually dared to insult an Extraordinary Meridians martial artist like that?!"
"It is over. This lord’s temper is not easy to provoke..."
Discussion erupted below the stage, filled with shock, gloating, and a hint of eager anticipation for the spectacle to come.
Kong Wei’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, but found his throat so dry that he could not produce a single sound.
The burly man slowly walked onto the ring, each step seeming to land directly on Kong Wei’s heart.
After coming to a stop, he fixed Kong Wei with a gaze as sharp as a blade and spoke in an icy voice.
"Who, exactly, were you calling worthless trash just now?"
Cold sweat poured down Kong Wei’s forehead. He waved his hands frantically.
"A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, Senior. I was not insulting you. I was insulting that Xu Yuan..."
"Xu Yuan?" The burly man frowned slightly.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Kong Wei nodded repeatedly and pointed in one direction. "That is the man. He is the real D-3!"
Xu Yuan stood among the crowd. Feeling countless gazes turn toward him, he let a faint smile rise to his lips and raised his hand, lightly shaking the wooden token in it.
Written on it, clearly and unmistakably, were the characters: B-5.
Kong Wei’s pupils contracted violently. It was as if he had been struck by lightning, and he completely broke down and roared, "You bastard, you lied to me?!"
Xu Yuan said blandly, "When did I ever lie to you? You were the one who came to ask. I only answered casually. Who told you to take it seriously?"
Kong Wei’s face turned livid. His lips trembled, yet not a single word came out.
The burly man glanced at Xu Yuan, a trace of amusement flashing through his eyes, before turning back to Kong Wei. His tone remained just as cold.
"You have quite a lot of nerve. You dare provoke anyone."
"But those words you spoke just now were shouted toward this ring, and I am the opponent on this ring."
Kong Wei’s whole body trembled. He immediately cupped his hands and bowed. "Senior, spare my life. This junior had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai and offended you. I am willing to offer an apology and compensation!"
"An apology and compensation?"
The burly man’s face filled with disdain, and he let out a cold laugh. "Once you have stepped onto the ring, there is only victory or defeat. If you want to go down, then you can go down lying flat."
Before his words had even fully fallen, his figure flashed. Like a moving mountain, he lunged straight at Kong Wei.
Kong Wei was horrified and hastily raised his arms to block.
Bang!!
A dull explosion rang out. Before the people below the stage could even see what had happened, Kong Wei had already been sent flying like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into the edge of the ring and spraying blood from his mouth.
One move. Just one move!
That alone had decided the victor.
Kong Wei struggled to climb back up, only to find that half his body had gone numb, as though it had been crushed by a ten-thousand-jin warhammer. He could not muster any strength at all.
The burly man slowly walked closer and looked down at him from above.
"Worthless trash?"
He chewed over those two words, then suddenly laughed. "Used to describe you, they fit quite well."
Kong Wei’s face flushed red. He was so humiliated and enraged that he wished he could die on the spot.
Below the stage, thunderous laughter erupted.
"Hahaha, serve him right! That is what he gets for running his mouth!"
"Well, now he has slammed straight into an iron wall, has he not?"
"That one is no simple man. He is apparently a ruthless fighter who clawed his way up from the Level Four zone, and Kong Wei actually dared call him worthless trash?"
"Not to mention anything else, he could not afford to provoke even that Xu Yuan. Where did he get the nerve?"
Shangyang Qingzhen sat on the viewing platform, his expression so dark it looked as though water could drip from it.
"That self-righteous idiot!"
He glared fiercely at Kong Wei, then turned his gaze toward the calm-faced Xu Yuan standing among the crowd. The look in his eyes grew colder and colder.
What a Xu Yuan...